It was great; then it wasn't. I have mixed feelings about On Writing Well by William Zinsser. I love the first 94 pages, but the rest far less so. That's a 28 percent good book, and that makes my final three-star ratings more than generous. What Zinsser writes in the first 94 pages caters to … Continue reading Book Reflection: On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Your favorite civilian natural science book comes with prerequisites: vivid photos from altocumulus clouds to decomposition fungi, key hiding spots of small insects and charismatic critters, and nontechnical but curiosity-provoking descriptions of ecological concepts--all of which fill The Practical Naturalist. Edited by Chris Packham and written by a team of scientists, this book is detailed … Continue reading Book Reflection: The Practical Naturalist by Chris Packham
The American chestnut tree, Castanea dentata, was one of the first biological icons to be virtually vacated from an integral position in both the environment and American society. We knew little about accidental imports of exotic species, and the introduction of the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica spurred the discussion and action. I was fascinated with the topic when … Continue reading Book Reflection: American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree by Susan Freinkel
Patrons of my local library vie for this book. I waited several weeks before I got a chance, even though The Sixth Extinction was published over a year before this time. Then I couldn't renew it, because of course someone else was in line to read it. Several weeks later down the waiting list I … Continue reading Book Reflection: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
From Part I: Growing, processing, and marketing the food items all in a single region mitigate many of those secondary issues, organic or not. It’s also worth mentioning that labels require hefty fees for each individual product to the government for licensing—fees that your small-scale organic farmer cannot pay for. Part II Do you want to … Continue reading Book Reflection: Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin (Part II)
After graduating college with a biology degree, I find most of my intellectual interest gearing toward subjects that were not integrated into my program. Conventionally this would mean biochemistry, soil science, water science, geomorphology--basically, environmental and related physical sciences. However, thanks to science nerd social media I jumped on the astrophysics bandwagon. Books I most … Continue reading Book Reflection: Studies in Astrophysics: Cosmos by Carl Sagan and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery of the University of Washington was simply a book on a library shelf among four other soil tomes. That was all the library had to offer for my self-education effort for the UN’s International Year of Soils. Fine. The “erosion of civilizations” part suggested something epic. The … Continue reading Book Reflection: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery (Part I)
The other day I embarked on yet another trip to the library. Yes, I’m a book nerd. However, instead of searching upstairs in my usual hub of nonfiction shelves I investigated the downstairs room of books-to-be-abandoned for $1 to $2 each. It was sad. Sometimes I check shelves to reread certain books that I grew … Continue reading For the Health of a Good Mind is a Good Book
Chestnut Leaf Media 